"A Year Of Biblical Womanhood"

What does the phrase “biblical
womanhood” really
mean? In A Year of Biblical
Womanhood — How a Liberated
Woman Found Herself
Sitting on Her Roof, Covering
Her Head and Calling
Her Husband Master,
Rachel Held Evans, an
independent and somewhat skeptical modern
woman, embarked upon a radical year-long
quest. Choosing a different virtue on which to
focus each month, she tried to follow the Bible’s
instructions for women as literally as possible.
The experiment stretched her worldview — and
sometimes her patience — as she tried to live
out scripture by submitting to her husband and
“praising him at the city gate,” covering her head
when in prayer, caring for the poor, creatively
observing Levitical purity codes and much more.

Evans visited Amish country in Pennsylvania,
a Benedictine monastery in Alabama and poor
rural villages in Bolivia, interviewing women
with lifestyles very different from her own. And
she found herself caring for a computerized
“Baby-Think-It-Over” doll, watching her hair grow
wild without the tiniest trim, wrestling with
troubling passages of Scripture, perching on
her rooftop to do penance and sitting silently
among Quakers.

Punctuated with humor, warmth and commentary
from her supportive husband, the
book invites readers to find their own answers
regarding what it means to live according to the
Bible’s teachings. According to Evans, “My purpose
in embarking on this project is not to belittle
or make fun of the Bible, nor is it to glorify
its patriarchal elements. It is simply to start a
conversation about how we interpret and apply
the Bible to our lives.” A Year of Biblical Womanhood
releases on October 30; for more information,
visit rachelheldevans.com.